Each new year provides the opportunity for reflection upon how far we have come and how far we still have to go, on both a personal and societal level. It was also the year that it took you at least a few minutes to realise the customer agent answering your queries in that little chat-box wasn't human, when you picked up a VR headset from your local toyshop for the price of a pizza, when you found yourself in far too many political arguments around the water-cooler, and when you began seriously questioning whether a computer might someday take your job -- maybe for the second time that year. We will see continuing tensions within and between countries, as 20th century nationalist sentiments push resentfully against 21st century supranational integration. There will be moments when it feels like only technology can save us, followed by events which remind us of how perilous our inventions can be when we still barely understand them. The following is not investment or professional advice of any kind, and is intended only to promote discussion and reflection on some of the rising trends and ideas of our time.

A team of researchers at the University of Tokyo developed a pair of humanoid robots that can carry out a wide range of life-like activities -- such as doing push ups, sit ups, and stretches as well as playing badminton and other complicated motions -- in a less mechanical manner compared with most automatons. The robots, called Kengoro and Kenshiro, were designed in such a way that mimics the human body's muscular and skeletal systems. Kenshiro was developed between 2011 and 2014, while Kengoro was developed from 2015 onward. "For at least the last two millennia, human beings have endeavored to understand the systems and mechanisms that make up the human body. However, a limitation of conventional humanoids is that they have been designed on the basis of the theories of conventional engineering, mechanics, electronics, and informatics," lead researcher Yuki Asano told Daily Mail online. The scientists used aluminum, steel, and plastic as a frame for the humanoid robots.

New KDnuggets Cartoon looks at AI at Home and smart device technology, in particular smart fridges, and considers a novel way for a smart fridge to help its owner lose weight. Man: I told the fridge that I will only jog if we do it together. This cartoon was ably drawn by Jon Carter. Here are other KDnuggets Big Data, Data Mining, and Data Science Cartoons and KDnuggets posts tagged cartoon. Cartoon: Thanksgiving, Big Data, & Turkey Data Science Cartoon: What Else Can AI Guess From Your Face? Cartoon: Future Machine Learning Class Cartoon: The First Ever Self-Driving, Deep Learning Grill Cartoon: Mother Of All Data Cartoon: Machine Learning - What They Think I Do Cartoon: the distance between Espresso and Cappuccino Cartoon: Taxes, Artificial Intelligence, and Humans Cartoon: What Happens When AI Masters the March Madness Causation or Correlation: Explaining Hill Criteria using xkcd Cartoon: Perfect Valentine's Dates Found With Data Analysis Cartoon: When Self-Driving Car Machine Learning takes you too far ... A Funny Look at Big Data and Data Science Cartoon: Thanksgiving, Big Data, and Turkey Data Science.

Beijing [China], Jan 04 (ANI): China will be building a USD 2.1 billion technology park that will focus on the developments and projects related to artificial intelligence (AI). According to the state-run news agency the Xinhua, the campus will be constructed in western Beijing within five years and it will cover around 54.87 hectares. "The technology park will be home to around 400 businesses and is expected to create an annual output value of about 50 billion yuan", the report said. "High-speed big data, cloud computing, biometrics and so-called deep learning, a strand of AI, will be the focus of the new park. It will also have 5G mobile internet, a supercomputer and cloud services", it added.

Faster and safer deliveries, fewer out-of-stock items and better customer service--AI is set to revolutionize the supply chain. Christmas 2017 was a busy one for retailers. During peak season, Amazon reported records for holiday shipping as they handled deliveries to 185 countries. UPS, meanwhile, said it was breaking records on package returns, having processed more than a million daily in December. With a 23 percent global growth in the last year, e-commerce continues to post solid performances, but stress and confusion are routine for merchants, logistics companies and consumers.

In many laboratories, from clinical to pharmaceutical, there is a shortage of microbiologists trained in identification - the process of determining one genus or species of bacterium or fungus from another. Perhaps, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers contend, artificial intelligence can address this shortfall. In the new research, the scientists have experimented with microscopes enhanced with artificial intelligence. These are designed to assist microbiologists diagnose microorganisms. The technology has been developed with the medical microbiology community in mind.

Newer technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, 3D printing, mixed reality that combines virtual reality and augmented reality, and blockchain are not only disrupting and transforming business models and the lives of individuals, but also ushering in the so-called gig economy which envisages an environment in which temporary positions are common and organizations engage independent workers on short-term contracts. Lounge takes a look at how these technologies will affect us in the years to come. It was only in December that the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) announced that a solar system with as many planets as our own had been discovered with the help of its Kepler space telescope and AI. Closer home, Microsoft and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics are using an AI-based sowing app that is expected to help about 4,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the kharif season. HDFC Bank's AI chatbot Eva, built by Senseforth AI Research, now works with the Google Assistant in Indian English.

Scientists from the Osaka University have developed a method for digital dialogue systems. The new technical is called lexical acquisition through implicit confirmation; and it is a method to allow a computer to acquire the category of an unknown word, achieved over multiple dialogues. This is process achieved by confirming if the computer's predictions are correct in the flow of conversation. The research is not simply of academic interest, it has a practical application for automation and digital transformation. Many types of conversation robots, chatbots, and voice assistant applications are central to progression in the digital age.

Singapore-based Vickers Venture Partners is looking to raise its largest fund yet of up to $500 million later this year as it seeks to increase investment in biotechnology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI), said its chairman, Finian Tan. The venture capital firm is already looking for investors to participate in its Fund VI, Tan said in an interview. "It's not so soon (but) we are soft-marketing right now, looking for anchor investors for our new fund," he told Reuters. At $500 million, Fund VI will be one of the largest venture capital funds to be raised in Southeast Asia. Singapore-based venture capital firms, which benefit from government incentives, have enjoyed robust fundraising in 2017.

Welcome in 2018 and a Happy New Year! New AI weekly focuses mainly on China (probably biggest investor in AI right now) and some predictions for upcoming months. But that's not all, you can find here also new cool summaries of AI related events and libraries from 2017. Enjoy your weekend reading other AI news and don't forget to share it with your friends The 5 Most Interesting Artificial Intelligence Trends for Entrepreneurs to Follow in 2018 -- The current pace of innovation makes it almost impossible to stay on top of the AI trends, but understanding these advancements is a must for business owners who want to stay ahead. China is building a giant $2.1 billion research park dedicated to developing A.I. -- China is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) technology park dedicated to developing artificial intelligence (AI), state-backed news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.